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“Oh, that may be the case for now, but once this gets going, my lady, you'll change your mind.” He grimaced as he looked out the window. “I'm already yearning for a bloody pint and I have to stay fucking sober. You, however, don't. Drink yourself under the table if you wish. It might make the night go by easier.”
* * * * *
SHE HADN'T DOUBTEDShale for a moment.
Really, she hadn't.
But not even twenty minutes in and she was already wishing she'd come armed with a tankard of the ale made specially with a Therian's metabolism in mind.
While normal alcohol had little effect on Therians and most others outside the human races, booze could be brewed to affect even their amped-up metabolic states. Zee had no doubt that among the numerous vintages flowing, she'd find something that would suit human, Therian and Nightdweller palates.
Standing near the head of the gathering, a few yards from Niko, she kept a blank mask firmly in place as yet another clutch of Therians moved toward her.
She offered another nod at a petite brunette with a somewhat genuine smile who murmured her sympathies and moved on, followed by a young man who watched her with avid curiosity and said in a blunt voice, “Sorry about your dad, but damn, he died a fu—ah, I mean, he did a good thing and all.”
He flushed and shot a look at Shale and the diminutive woman with dark hair who gave him a frustrated look and shook her head. Unable to stop the smile from twitching at her lips, Zee caught the brunette's gaze.
As their eyes locked, the woman's face reddened.
“Brother?” Zee asked softly.
She nodded, that embarrassed, frustrated, but loving expression on her face speaking to Zee's soul.
“I've got a younger brother, too,” Zee said.
“Then you get it.” The brunette caught her shame-faced brother's arm and tugged him away, talking to him in a low, furious whisper.
“That's Tierney,” Shale said, lowering his head so he could speak in a low voice only for her ears. “And that boy, bless the poor eejit's soul...that's Mike.”
Something in his voice had Zee craning her head to meet his eyes. “You sound... angry. Don't like them?”
“Ah, no, Tierney's a nice girl.” His eyes were blank as he said, almost too blank, and his voice was empty of all emotion.
Hmmm...
Shale wasn't done talking, though. “And despite how he can be thick at times, Mike's a good boy. They've just had a rough time of it lately. Their parents, both of them, were traveling with Jameson the day he was attacked. Neither of them made it.”
“Oh.” Sadness closed over her, like a heavy cloak and she glanced toward the dark-haired woman again, saw her with her brother, one arm around his waist and the two of them standing with their heads touching, the tall, lanky boy dipping to meet her smaller frame. “How terrible for them.”
“Yes. We lost good people that day.”
Sensing the approach of yet another person, she shifted away from Shale, fixing the bland smile back on her face.
The older couple lingered only a few moments, the man giving his condolences and asking about her brothers while his wife, her eyes avid with curiosity, tried unsuccessfully to get any hint at how things stood between Niko and Zee.
“I should have taken you up on the fetch and carry service,” she muttered to Shale as another woman approached.
How many of the women who'd come to speak with her had done so because they were taking her measure, wondering if she was going to stay around and lay claim to Niko once more?
At least a couple of the women she'd met had all but reeked of jealousy, the scent of it souring the air around them. Those two had been enough to make Zee long for the quiet of her little apartment in P-town.
And here was a third. Zee stifled a sigh as a simpering blonde stepped in front of her.
“Well.” Her lips, painted a vivid red, curved as she took the sight of Zee in, her expression designed to make Zee feel very, very small. “Look at you, Zenith. All grown up. To think, I never imagined seeing you in these parts again.”
Zee felt Shale shift at her side, knew he planned on acting on the implied insult, even if it was something as simple as a mistaken name—an obvious mistake. Casually, she hooked her arm through his and held him closer, although unobtrusively so, as she fixed a pleasant smile on her face.
The woman watching her with viperous eyes, hazel, tinged with a glint of green and blue, was familiar, but not overly so. Zee suspected she'd met her at some point, but nothing about her stood out.
